FINALLY ONE FOR THE GC

FINALLY, the Gold Coast is starting to see something comes it way out of an election cycle.

The city is typically ignored by the major parties when it comes to fair and equitable support for large-scale projects.

The ongoing light rail funding impasse with the major parties having come up woefully short to extend it towards Burleigh is exhibit A.

But in Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s launch speech yesterday and unveiling of a leg up into housing for first-home buyers with a five per cent deposit – matched on the hoof by Labor – the Gold Coast will see some benefit come its way post-election providing this promise is stuck too.

It wouldn’t be first time a promise was made on the hustings to be glossed over post voting.

But such a pledge will provide a shot in the arm of the all-important city real estate market where, like the rest of the country, the Australian dream of owning your own home is is getting further out of reach for many starting out on the property ladder.

The Gold Coast will also benefit from Labor’s new local policy pledge of $8 million for a mental health facility to be built offsite from Gold Coast University Hospital.

The pledge, revealed in the Bulletin today, is aimed at taking pressure off the hospital’s emergency department, where mental health presentations are contributing to delays.

With a week still to go, what’s next?